The present invention relates to a device for measuring a body weight and/or a bioelectrical impedance for a plurality of subjects and calculating an index relating to a body based on those measured values, and in particular, relates to a technology for automatically identifying a subject who is being measured.
There has been such a prior art body fat measuring device as shown in FIG. 9, which allows for a condition to be used among a plurality of users. This prior art device comprises a memory for storing personal data (i.e. sex, age and body height) for a plurality of users, and calculates and indicates a percent body fat and a body fat mass of a measured subject based on the personal data having been stored in this memory, a body weight value obtained by body weight measuring means and a bioelectrical impedance value obtained by bioelectrical impedance measuring means.
Although in such a prior art body fat measuring device described above, once the personal information has been stored therein, the setting procedures would not be required again, yet upon measurement, a user has been requested to enter his/her personal memory number or to press one of the measuring switches 50 corresponding to respective memory numbers. To satisfy this requirement, the user has to remember the memory number which has been established in the device, and if the user forget the memory number, he/she is required to read out the stored information by sequentially pressing the measuring switches corresponding to every memory number so as to confirm the stored information, or otherwise he/she is required to repeat the setting procedure again.
Further, in the case where the body fat measuring device includes the measuring switch 50 provided for each individual as shown in FIG. 9, the number of components has been increased, resulting in a cost increase. Alternatively, such a device that uses numeric keys and/or a cross key to enter the personal memory number does not need any measuring switch to be provided, but an input operation of the number is bothering and in this case again, the user has to remember his/her memory number. Accordingly, such a user having a poor memory like an elder person may find it difficult to handle that type of device.
The present invention has been made in the light of the problems discussed above, and an object thereof is to provide a living body measuring device which, once the personal information having been set therein, executes an arithmetic operation simply by making a measurement without requiring a user to remember his/her personal memory number.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject, comprises an input unit, a bioelectrical impedance measuring unit, a storage unit and an arithmetic unit,
wherein
said input unit enters information relating to a body of a subject;
said bioelectrical impedance measuring unit measures a bioelectrical impedance of said subject;
said storage unit stores data for a plurality of subjects, said data representing the body-related information entered from said input unit and the measured bioelectrical impedance values; and
said arithmetic unit determines who is the measured subject by comparing the measured current bioelectrical for the plurality of subjects stored in said storage unit, and calculates an index relating to the body of the determined subject based on the body information of the determined subject stored in said storage unit and the measured current bioelectrical impedance value.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject, comprises an input unit, a body weight measuring unit, a bioelectrical impedance measuring unit, a storage unit and an arithmetic unit,
wherein
said input unit enters information relating to a body of a subject;
said body weight measuring unit measures a body weight of said subject;
said bioelectrical impedance measuring unit measures a bioelectrical impedance of said subject;
said storage unit stores data for a plurality of subjects, said data representing the body-related information entered from said input unit and measured body weight values and bioelectrical impedance values; and
said arithmetic unit determines who is the measured subject by comparing the measured current body weight value and bioelectrical impedance value with the body weight values and bioelectrical impedance values for the plurality of subjects stored in said storage unit, and calculates an index relating to the body of the determined subject based on th body information of the determined subject stored in said storage unit and the measured current body weight value and bioelectrical impedance value.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject further comprises a clock unit,
wherein
said clock unit clocks a current day and time;
said storage unit also stores a measurement day and time; and
said arithmetic unit also uses an elapsed day count from a last measurement day stored in said storage unit to a current measurement day in order to make a determination of the subject.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject is characterized in that:
said storage unit stores measured values for each subject on the basis of a measurement time slot, and said arithmetic unit makes a determination of a subject by comparing the stored measured values in the same time slot as the current time with the current measured value.
According to still another embodiment of the present invention, a living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject further comprises a switch
wherein
said switch is activated to measure a body weight and a bioelectrical impedance upon a subject putting his/her body on said device.
According to still another embodiment of the present invention, a living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject, said device further comprises a display unit,
wherein
said display unit indicates an index relating to a body of a subject, said index representing a result from the calculation by said arithmetic unit, and
said display unit also indicates the body information stored in said storage unit and used in the calculation as well as the result indication.
According to still another embodiment of the present invention, a living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject is characterized in that:
said arithmetic unit recalculates the index relating to the body based on a selected information if the information to be used in the calculation is changed during the indication of the index relating to the body.
According to still another embodiment of the present invention, a living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject is characterized in that:
a bioelectrical impedance value and a body weight value for a subject stored in said storage unit are updated at each time when the measurements are made.
According to still another embodiment of the present invention, a living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject is characterized in that:
said arithmetic unit makes a determination of a subject in favor of a result obtained from a comparison of the body weights between the comparison of body weight values and the comparison of bioelectrical impedance values.
According to still another embodiment of the present invention, a living body measuring device having a function for determining a measured subject, said device further comprises an electrode,
wherein
said electrode measures a sole length of a subject,
said electrode comprising a plurality of sub-electrodes;
said storage unit stores a measured sole length as well as the other information; and
said arithmetic unit determines who is a measured subject by further using a result from a comparison of the measured sole length with the sole lengths stored in said storage unit for a plurality of subjects.